Harry Potter and the Turning of the Wheel
by Omacron
Summary: HP WOT Crossover. Harry gets a gift from Ron that turns out to be not what either of them expected as Harry is transported to a Land where Magic is unheard of, but a new power exists that is as beyond Magic as Magic is beyond Muggles, welcome to the world
1. To Find Lost Loves

Harry gets a gift from Ron that turns out to be not what either of them expected as Harry is transported to a Land where Magic is unheard of, but a new power exists that is as beyond Magic as Magic is beyond Muggles, welcome to the world of the Wheel of Time.

Harry Potter and the Turning of the Wheel  
By: Omacron21

**Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Scholastic Books, and I have no intentions on cashing in on the major money maker that the Potterverse is set in. I only wish to explore an option that appeared to me on night driving to school.**

**The Wheel of Time is owned by Robert Jordan and Tor Books and as above RJ can keep the fringe benefits.**

**All characters are owned by the above authors.**

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose across the waters of an island on a great ocean. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time, but it was _a_ beginning.

The island was the home of what was once considered the greatest of nations in the world. A nation that once stretched across the entire known planet, and which once spanned so much land that it was considered the nation on which the sun never set, for it was always day in some part of the world where the nation held claim. The world had changed much since this nation was once at its peak, it no longer held sway to the title of the greatest power in the world, although in its own right it was still a mighty nation, a prosperous land with a stable economy, a diverse social class, and a flourishing trade network. In one small town, in the southern end of the Island Nation, a very normal town where nothing out of the ordinary happened, a town called Little Whinging, a boy with very unruly black hair was sitting in his room reading his mail. Now this by itself is not an unordinary event, for most 16 year old adolescent males with nothing else to do, no friends in their neighborhood, and certainly no special 'someone' to be talking on the phone with might be expected to be reading the mail in his room alone on a bright sunny summer day. However, most boys would not be reading mail while feeding little treats to the owls that delivered the mail to them!

But, for this boy, this was nothing out of the ordinary, at least if you were a wizard like he was! Harry Potter had been done with his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry for a few weeks now and the effects of that year were still sinking in. During the year he had made many new discoveries not just about himself, but about the Wizarding world he lived in, and the role he was to play in the fate of that world. He had learned about plots within plots for the Dark Lord Voldemort to secure the immortality he had quested for in his youth through the use of Horcruxes, devices in which a part of one's soul was stored. By storing parts of his soul, 6 in total plus 1 that resided still in his body (7 being a very powerful magical number), Voldemort had in essence made it impossible for himself to die, gaining the immortality he sought. However he was only partly correct in that assumption. Voldemort's assumption that he could never die was proven wrong on one fateful night, All Hallows Eve in 1983, when his attempt to kill a very young, a very small Harry Potter failed and ended up destroying his body instead!

To this very date no one, neither Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, or even Harry Potter's once great Mentor and Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had figured out the exact reason why Harry lived through the killing curse that Voldemort used on him when no one else had before, ever! Nor had they reasoned out why that curse had assumingly rebounded upon Voldemort destroying his body and freeing his soul to roam the world for 10 years. The only clue that Harry and Dumbledore had was a prophecy that had been made shortly before the Dark Lord's demise, one that Voldemort knew only parts of, but that Dumbledore had heard in its entirety. The prophecy stated

**_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches_ ._.. born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies_ _... and the Dark Lord will mark him_ _as his equal, but he_ _will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either_ _ must die at the hand of the other_ _either can live while the other_ _survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…_**

Dumbledore knew of 2 families that fit the description, the Potters and another family, the Longbottoms, both of which who had boys born at the end of July, and who had openly defied the Dark Lord 3 times, and took measures to protect these families. But, unfortunately for the Potters, Dumbledore was not the only to hear the prophecy the night it was told. A servant of the Dark Lord heard the prophecy as well, or at least part of the prophecy before Dumbledore took action to prevent anyone from hearing it, but he had heard enough to know that the Dark Lord was in danger. With this knowledge the Dark Lord began to search for children born at the end of July to opponents of his reign, and he learned of the Potters and the Longbottoms. On Halloween night, he choose to visit Godric's Hollow, home of the Potters while under the Fidelius Charm, a charm made to protect them from anyone finding them, but which the Dark Lord had been able to circumvent. He came to their home, killed Harry's father James, and then his Mother Lily, who sacrificed herself to try and protect Harry from Voldemort.

It was this act that Dumbledore, Voldemort, and even Harry himself supposed that caused Harry to be able to deflect the _Avada Kedvara_ curse, the killing curse, back upon Voldemort, destroying him while only leaving a curse scar in the shape of a lighting bolt on his forehead. It was Lily's love that everyone assumed protected Harry, even though Merlin knows how many other mothers begged Voldemort not to kill their children and hoped they would be spared by his mercy or, gods forbid, their love for their children. But alas, only Harry had ever survived hearing those fateful words, or seeing the green light speed towards them and with it, certain death. So it must have been something else that protected Harry, something that set him apart from all other people in the world, something that no one, not even Dumbledore or Voldemort, the greatest wizards in the world could figure out, and now only Voldemort remained to puzzle out the mystery of Harry's power, for right before Harry left at the end of the school year, Dumbledore had succumbed to an attack by Death Eaters, servants of the Dark Lord, and the betrayal of one he had great faith in, his spy Severus Snape.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Harry sat at his desk, reading through his mail, trying to figure out how he was going to survive in a world without Dumbledore, in a world he was destined to save, or die trying. He knew that in order to destroy Voldemort's spirit, so that he would finally die when his body was destroyed again, Harry would have to destroy all of the Horcruxes that Voldemort had created. 2 were already destroyed, 1 by Harry in his second year of school, in the form of a diary that held a interactive memory of Voldemort in his teen years while a student at Hogwarts 50 years ago. The memory was before Voldemort started his climb to power, his true turn to the dark side, before he had really gone down the path to immortality. At this time he still went by his birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, but he knew of Horcruxes at this point and the diary was his first attempt to help to do the impossible. Dumbledore had also destroyed 1 of the Horcurxes, right before the start of Harry's 6th year and lost the use of his hand as a result. Now it was up to Harry to finish finding all the Horcruxes, destroy them and find some way to keep Voldemort from creating more and kill him, once and for all. A bit much for a 16 year old in any one's opinion!

So it was really should be of no surprise to anyone that Harry had spent most of his time at home from school contemplating what he was going to be doing with the rest of his life, even if he did not have much left to live anyways. When he was not contemplating his existence, Harry spent most of the time reading his spell books and studying up on various magical tomes he had trying to learn as much as he could. He knew he could never match the Dark Lord in knowledge or ability even in magic, he had over 50 years experience on Harry, had performed who knows how many rituals and spells to increase his power and abilities, and Harry still had a year left in school before he could be considered a fully trained wizard. So with that in mind he knew he could get nothing out of another year of school and had resigned himself to maximizing the time he had left, which included not going back to school for his 7th and final year. So on his 17th Birthday, when he came into his magical adulthood in the wizarding world, Harry Potter was just reading the letters and packages that his friends had sent to him.

This year he had several nice packages and letters to look through, there was the traditional ones from Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Hagrid and his Hogwarts letter for his 7th year supplies (the letter he least look forward to opening). However there were several additional letters this year, Remus Lupin sent him one, as did Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, and one from Fred and George Weasley. All in all not what would be considered a bad hall by anyone by any standards (except of course his fat lug of a cousin Dudley who if he did not receive at least 35 presents for his birthday would fly into a huge temper tantrum that would make even the most disconcerted of people embarrassed by!)

Harry was just finishing the 3rd of his letters, having gone through Mrs. Weasley's fudge and cakes (some of which he was currently happily munching on) and birthday card already. Hagrid had of course sent him his traditional rock-cakes, which immediately were placed on his desk as paperweights, and also a book he had found while visiting Germany early in the summer on mythical magical European beasts and where to find them, a book he would definitely share with Luna if he saw her again to try and calm her insatiable appetite about rare and obscure magical beings.

The letter he had from Hermione was reminiscent of just how much she really did care about him and the future he had to look forward to. Bill and Fleur's wedding was fast approaching and Harry had agreed to go to the Burrow at least one last time to visit with his pseudofamily and friends before going to Godric's Hollow to begin his quest to bring down Voldemort. The only reason he had not started out right after school ended was to renew the blood protection that being at the Dursley's house granted him, and only because Dumbledore wanted him to go, plus once he was 17, and was a legal adult, he could legally apparate around the country as well as perform magic, meaning he could protect himself outside of the wall of these walls on Privet Drive. It was quite ironic how his friendship with Hermione had changed over the years, and how much she was devoted to his life and his cause now, even though there never was nor was there ever going to be anything more than just friendship between them. But that was the power of friendship, being able to trust another enough to go with them wherever it leads, of your own volition. Perhaps this was another 'Power that the Dark Lord knows not', but only time would tell. He was not surprised in the least then by what Hermione's letter said.

**Harry,**

**I hope this finds you in better spirits than when we last saw each other and I hope that you have found some way to deal with the Headmaster's death. I still can't believe that Snape turned on him, Dumbledore had such trust in him and to think that he could be wrong… it's just too hard to believe. Dumbledore has always been this immovable, irrefutable bastion of the light and with him gone I don't know what everyone else is going to do but look to you for hope. But, you have other things on your mind than worrying about how the wizarding world will look at you from now on. I know you can't wait to get out of the Dursley's and now that you are 17 that should be a little bit easier. Being able to perform legal magic now will only help you better defend yourself and keep people like the Dursley's from ever treating you badly again! I know that not all guys like to wear jewelry of any kind, but I think you'll appreciate the usefulness of this little piece I found for you in Diagon Alley. There are 2 parts to it, half of which I have, and the other half that you have now. Once you put on your half with just a touch of the hand we'll be able to tell how each other are doing. Its not anything like legimancy, but more of a magical checkup on each others conditions. I know you are worried about Ron and myself or anyone who is close to you getting hurt by being your friends and I hope that having a means to check on us will help ease your fears. Don't fret Harry and I will see you in a week at Bill and Fleur's wedding!**

**Hermione**

Trust it to Hermione to be the conscientious one for the group, thought Harry as he opened the package that came with Hermione's gift. In the soft packaging was a small golden bracelet that had a plaque with Hermione's name on it in small gilded letters secured by chains that would wrap around his wrist keeping it secure. It was beautiful and he knew that what Hermione said was true; he was always worried that those he loved would be in danger just by being his friend, so this gift was especially important to him. Taking it out of the packaging, Harry undid the clasp and slid it around his wrist. As it clicked shut he felt a warmth spread throughout his body that left him feeling glowy all over. Just as quickly as the feeling came it left him. 'That must mean its active now' Harry half said to himself. 'Might as well see if its working,' and with that he touched the plaque and suddenly in the back of his mind he could almost feel Hermione. It was like she was there, a part of him that he could grasp whenever he needed to. He could almost feel which direction Hermione was it, but the feeling was too faint. All he knew was that she was healthy and happy, and that was enough for him. 'Why I never thought of this before I'll never know. Hermione had the Galleons charmed to let everyone know when there was a DA meeting, so why didn't we ever charm anything to let us know how each of us are doing! I wonder if multiple plaques can be put on this bracelet, so I can know how Ron and the others are doing as well? I'll have to have Hermione look into it when I see her at the wedding.'

Picking up the next gift he saw it was from Luna and wondered what new species she was looking for with her father to write about in the Quibbler this time. Opening her letter he was pleasantly surprised to find that she had decided to stay in England and only look for a reported sighting of a 3 eyed white snow bird called a Crocktoo, thought to be located only in the Himalaya mountains, so what it was doing in Great Britain was a mystery indeed. She had sent him a copy of the Quibbler along with a note saying that he now had a years subscription to the newspaper and she expected him to read it diligently, to keep up on all the real news that the Daily Prophet wasn't printing about the mysterious disappearance of all the green leaves in a park north of London (how the green can all just disappear from a park was anyone's' guess)! Next he turned to Neville's letter and opening it found that Neville was still feeling squashed by his grandmother's overbearing presence, but that he hoped Harry was doing better as the summer progressed, and that he had been invited by Ron to Bill's wedding and would see him there. He also hoped he enjoyed the gift he got him, a supply of Bertie Bott's Beans.

The Twin's gift was apparent even without opening it. It was a collection of the treats and tricks the twins had designed for their company, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, of which Harry was a founding partner, silent albeit. Careful not to touch anything, no matter how innocent it looked, Harry put that carefully off to the side of his desk to experiment more with when he had time. Turning to Remus's letter Harry was hesitant to open and read what was inside. Even though he and Remus had made great progress in the past year, it was still a sore spot for Harry to talk to Remus. He was Harry's last link to the Marauders and his Parents after Sirius's death in the Department of Mysteries a little over a year ago. Sirius. That was one letter he knew he would never get again and it pulled at his heart still. If there was one thing he could go back and change it would be falling for Voldemort's trick in his 5th year and not go any where near the Veil that Sirius fell through to his death. But wishful thinking got no one anywhere. Putting Remus's letter aside Harry decided to read that one later.

That left him with just Ron's and his Hogwart's letter. Knowing what was in the Hogwart's letter, and that it was nothing of importance he quickly ripped that one open and seeing the only thing besides his book and supply list that was included was a letter from the Board of Governors stating that the school would operate as normal this year with Professor McGonagall as Headmistress (would it be anyone else) and that they like the rest of the wizarding world grieved at the loss of Dumbledore. Tossing both of them into the trashcan Harry reached for Ron's letter and started reading.

**Harry,**

**Hey mate! I hope the Dursley's are not bothering you at all this year, they have to know that once you are 17 you can perform magic whenever you want, so I'm sure they didn't bother you at all this yet! Anyway I know you're still probably all upset about Dumbledore, and by all rights you should be. That git Snape was a traitor through and through and that Dumbledore didn't see it amazes me. When you get here for Bill's wedding we can make all the plans we need for our life after Hogwarts. I know I'll be with you all the time, don't know how Hermione's going to deal with being away from the Library though, you know how that one is. She sure has been moody this summer, always going on about Dumbledore's death and Vol…Volde…Voldemort. Fortunately her parents let her stay her most of the summer, Mom's been real good about it all, letting her stay in Ginny's room whenever she's over. But we both miss you and will talk more when we see you next. I hope you like the book, I found it in a store while we were helping Bill clean up his place in Cairo last week, I figure it's the kind of stuff you're going to need to study up on! Cya bro.**

**Ron**

'Kinda strange that Hermione didn't mention staying at the Burrow at all this summer, but then she and Ron have been getting a lot closer lately. She probably feels bad that I broke it off with Ginny before we left school. I hope they haven't been talking too much about me at night' lamented Harry as he put down Ron's letter. Turning to the package that came with it he undid the binding and pulled out a large Tome that was clearly very, very old. _Forgotten Spells of True Power _ by: Mierin Eronaile. Now this was something very interesting, a book of power spells. 'Well they probably don't teach this in Hogwarts so I bet its going to be more useful than "_The Standard Book of Spells Grade 7_" that they have us read' Brushing off some space on his desk, Harry opened the book and looked through the topics.

'Some of these topics are quite original in their descriptions' mused Harry, '_Rituals of Power, Sacrifices and how to use Them, Dark Curses, Memory Charms'_ all pretty standard stuff that you would find in any book on Power. When Harry turned the page though his heart skipped a beat …_To Find Lost Loves_. 'Nah' he thought, 'those couldn't help me at all, could they?' Harry couldn't resist finding out though. Turning to the page the book indicated Harry started breezing through the list of spells until one caught his eye.

**Use only under the most dire of needs**

'Well that isn't a very useful warning,' said Harry 'What do they mean by dire need? If the world is ending, if I can't stand up, if my friends been missing for 3 days rather than 2! Spells need to be a lot more concise if you ask me.' With that Harry continued to read the spell when realization set in. 'I CAN use this spell, it may just work. I can find Sirius's body with this and give him a proper burial, heck if he's alive still somehow, then I can just find him!' Looking at the wand movements, Harry noted they weren't that different from combining the movements for _Wingardium Leviosa_ and a few other simple spells. The Spell was even in English, not Latin, so it wouldn't be any problem performing the spell either. The only question left was when to try it. Thinking it over, 'Well, there's no time like the present, Sirius, I WILL find you!'

_Power of the Night, head my call, I cast out with all my might, bring forth through time, space and thought, let me find the one I seek, the one I love though not in my sight. Show me the way to bring him to me, though the Power of the Day will unleash my wish._

Saying the last word, Harry brought his wand straight down and touched the tip to the book on his desk. Suddenly a bright light enveloped the book spreading out and upwards towards Harry. In a flash of brilliance that rivaled even the sun the light went out, and the book disappeared, along with everything that had encompassed it, as well as the one who cast the spell. Harry Potter was no longer on Privet Drive!


	2. A New World

A/N:  
I know many people do not like to read stories that spend chapter upon chapter of retelling the lives and adventures of the characters up until the point the story starts, and that is not what I intend to do. Everything that happens in this story will be original. Unfortunately, with the vast amount of background in the HP universe and the great detail that exists in the Wheel of Time, it will take 3 or 4 chapters to provide enough background information for everyone to understand this story from both points of view. But I promise, I will never spend more than a few paragraphs here and there retelling what has happened after these few chapters are concluded. I already have the first 30 chapters planned out, so have faith.

Still looking for a Beta if anyone is interested!

Enjoy

FYI: If you have any questions about the terms or words that are unfamiliar in this story, check out the bio section of my page, and I will have the most common terms there with quick definitions to ease any confusion!

Harry Potter and the Turning of the Wheel  
By: Omacron21

**Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Scholastic Books, and I have no intentions on cashing in on the major money maker that the Potterverse is set in. I only wish to explore an option that appeared to me on night driving to school.**

**The Wheel of Time is owned by Robert Jordan and Tor Books and as above RJ can keep the fringe benefits.**

**All characters are owned by the above authors.**

Chapter 2: A New World

Harry awoke feeling wet all over. Now how he was wet was a mystery since the last thing he remembered was being in his room on his birthday opening presents and cards from his friends. Then he had gotten that book of Power spells from Ron and… it all came back to him. Finding the spell for Lost Love's, deciding to perform the spell, and the light. Merlin it was bright! Probably the brightest thing he had ever seen, brighter than staring into the sun or even Fawkes' burning day.

But he still didn't know why he was wet! Opening his eyes also brought about another question that had to be answered: Where was he? No longer was he surrounded by wood and nails in his bedroom on Privet, but instead he was surrounded by trees and grass, grass still wet from the morning dew. Looking around it appeared that he was in a forest, a very big forest since the trees toppled over him and seemed to go on as far as the eye could see.

Now Harry's experiences with forests were relatively limited. In fact the only real forest he had spent any time in was his excursions into the Forbidden Forest at the boundaries of Hogwarts, and even then those were mostly at night and when he was on some sort of quest, well task, of looking for Giant Spiders or Unicorn Killing Defense teachers.

This forest though was different. It did not have the feel of the Forbidden Forest, a kind of ominous ancient feeling that he was being watched by some or something at all times, from all directions. Instead, he was feeling like nothing was going on. In fact he felt very little at all.

Now Harry had never been a sensitive person when it came to magic before, but during this past year with all his exploits with Professor Dumbledore, Harry had become more aware of all that surrounded him at Hogwarts, and one of the things that he had noticed when returning to Privet was that he couldn't feel the magic that pulsed through Hogwarts. Oh, he could feel some magic in the air at the Dursley's, assumingly from the Blood Wards Dumbledore had put up to protect him from Voldemort. But here, here he felt nothing. It was almost as if there was no magic in anything around him, which is impossible since everything has some magic in it.

All creatures and objects in nature are composed of at least some particles of magic. If Harry had been a student of Magical Theory he probably could put his ideas into real words. He would know as Hermione is bound to know that Magic is necessary for life. Even if it cannot be detected, Magic is in all objects. The trees and grasses absorb magic all the time from the air and other magical being around them, and while they themselves are not normally magical, they do have a resonance that Magical Theory calls 'harmonious natural magic', an almost symbiotic relationship between nature and its creations.

Without one, there cannot be another, nature provides magic to the creatures in it, and they in turn provide magic to nature to replenish and revitalize itself. But then, Harry was not like Hermione so to him it just felt different here than any where he had really been since he discovered that he was magical.

Taking a good look around him Harry did not appear to be entirely without some connections to his previous location. He still had his wand in his hand, but on the ground besides him was the book Ron gave him, _Forgotten Spells of True Power_, along with Remus's letter, Hagrid's Book, and the Twin's joke bag. Besides that though, it was just him and the forest. From the position of the sun it appeared that it was mid morning, roughly the same time he had been opening his presents, so he could not have been unconscious very long. Standing up he decided to try and figure out exactly where he was and why the spell brought him here. It just seemed so unlikely that Sirius would be found in a forest in the middle of…, well wherever here may be it did not seem like a place he would find anything that had gone through that veil. Perhaps he had done something wrong when he performed the incantation. He had rushed into performing the spell. You don't normally perform unknown and probably advanced magic 10 seconds after discovering its existence! But he supposed that was the Gryffindor in him, trying to be ever brave and proud, proud that perhaps he could locate Sirius.

Placing his wand on his hand, Harry decided to try and figure out which way was North so that he could make his way out of this forest with at least some logic.

"Point me" he said, with his wand on the palm of his hand. But nothing happened. "Point me" he said again.

He didn't understand what was happening. He had learned this spell in his 4th year in preparation for the 3rd Task for the Triwizard Cup. It was a simple spell that even a 1st year should be able to perform. Just say 'Point me' and it was supposed to orient your wand in a Northerly direction. His wand though just sat there, as if it was just a piece of wood on the palm of his hand.

"Ok, this is just a little too weird. Maybe the spell just tired me out more than I realized, drained my magical reserves so much that I need some time to recoup and recover my strength." That had to be it Harry decided.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to find my way out the old fashioned way. I just wish I knew what the old fashioned way was!"

Feeling a bit of despair over his lack of knowledge in non-magical matters, Harry resolved to pick a direction and just keep walking that way. Looking at the sun he decided to just keep walking with the sun always to his back and eventually he would find a river or stream he could follow, there should always be people by water, shouldn't there? Everyone needs water to survive.

With that thought Harry scooped down and picked up his birthday presents and made his way away from the sun. He just hoped that he didn't meet any animals or unfriendly people in the woods until his magic regained its strength. Without that he didn't have any means of protection, not even a knife.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perrin Aybara was usually a very patient man. It took a lot of effort for him to become vexed and upset with anyone. It was a trait he owed to the long hours he spent back in Master Luthan's forge in Edmond's Field. A blacksmith would quickly find that he had tempered whatever he was working on poorly if he rushed into things and did not give them their due. Patience and care were essential matters when dealing with hot metal that you were trying to mold into a tool for someone to use.

However as of late he had been very, hot tempered to say the least, which was naturally to be expected when your wife is kidnapped by a very dangerous and powerful enemy and whisked away before he even had the scent of the enemy being near! And that itself is a feat not easily accomplished!

Faile ni Bashere t'Aybara, Perrin's wife had been resuced the previous day from the forces of the Shaido in the city of Malden, something that just a little more than a week ago had seemed an almost impossible task. Faile had been a captive of the Shaido, a sept of the Aiel, a nation of fearless warriors who had been hardened by desert life over the course of millenia, until they were living weapons. A Aiel could kill you with his bear hands, in fact a single Aiel with no weapons had been known to take out almost a dozen armed men on his own before being subdued. And here, in the wetlands of the world, that even in the driest of seasons still made the Waste where the Aiel came from look lush and bountiful, the Aiel were adapting quickly to their new enviroment.

The Aiel nation was huge, comprised of 12 differet Clans of with dozens of tribes and septs that held thousands upon thousands of Aiel each. If taken as a whole there had probably been somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million Aiel in the entire Three-Fold-Land (what the Aiel call the Waste) before the Breaking of the Aiel. The Shaido, and those who flocked to the Clan because of the breakingd were looked upon as outsiders even among the Aiel.

They heraditarily had been stealers and thieves, even among the Aiel, taking more than was needed, and since coming to this new wetland, they had forsaken many of their old ways in exchange for living lavisly and with as many comforts as possible. Quite the opposite of life in the Harsh desert of the Waste. But when you are a powerful nation in a land where your very name makes others tremble in their boots, you are powerful. And power has a way of corrupting even the most pious of folk.

The Aiel had captured Faile while running from the armies of the other Nations of the land, as well as other Aiel Clans who were chassing them down for the dishonor they were bringing to all Aiel. Forcefully making people into what the Aiel called Gai'shan, slave/servants of the Aiel capture in battle. Most Aiel would not force outlanders who did not know their ways to become Gai'shan and serve as slaves for a year and a day, since they did not know the Aiel's ways or their practice of Honor and Obligation to each other.

Unfortunately for those the Shaido encountered, they were forced to don the white clothing of the Gai'shan and serve, regardless if they were Aiel or not. This is what happened to Faile, and Perrin had spent almost 2 months tracking down the Saido, who even in a group of tens of thousands, including Gai'shan, could move dozens of miles a day on foot.

When Perrin finally cought up with the Shaido they had a force of over 10,000 around the city of Malden, and thousands more on their way, scheduled to arrive in just days. The task of defeating that many warriors with his few thousands seemed daughnting at the time. But that was before his alliance with the Seanchan. The Seanchan were a invading group of foreingers who had arrived on Perrin's continent a few years earlier and were quickly overrunning the entire South and Western part of the land.

They were seeking to reclaim an emipre thought gone and destroyed more than a 1,000 years ago, and they were seemingly quickly making that dream a reality. It was through this Alliance that Perrin made with the Seanchan and the use of a herb called forkroot that Perrin was able to rescue his wife. Even with a few thousand more men and women to fight for him, Perrin was still well outnumbered to take care of the more than 400 women in the Shaido camp who would have made rescuing Faile….a dangerous task to say the least. That was what the forkroot was for. Forkroot had the abilty to make people who could channel, unable to channel and even render them unconcious if taken in large enough quantities. And the Shaido had at least 400 women in their camp who could channel, whereas the Seanchan, who used women bound and forced to channel for them in battle, only had a few of these _damane_, leashed ones.

Channeling is an ability that dates back to the creation of the world, and possibly existed even before that. Channelers are people, men and women who have access to what is called the One Power. The One Power is the driving force of the Universe, it turns the wheel of time, is part of the great pattern of the ages that the Wheel weaves, it moves existence along; in essence, it is a universal constant, a unending, unwielding supply of energy. The One Power is divided into 2 halves, giving it a balance, balance being at the core of everything related to the One Power.

One half has been called _saidir_ while the other is called _saidin_. _Saidir_ can only be wielded by women, while _saidin_ can only be used by men. This is just part of the system of balance. Now, not everyone can channel the One Power, whether it is _sadin_ or _sadir_. Only a small percent of the population can use the One Power from birth, they are born with the ability to channel, while another percentage can learn to harness these forces and gain the ability. Without instruction though, these people would never learn that they have this power, only those born with the ability will ever start using it without even trying.

Great things have been accomplished in the past using the One Power, machines of lore that could fly, devices that can control the weather, the ability to communicate with each other across great distances are just some of the skills that were made possible in the Age of Legends, thousands of years ago, when the use of the One Power was at what is considered by the people of the current age, its peak. However all good things must come to an end. During this Age of Legends, people lived a happy and good life. Longevity was extended decades for regular folk who could not use the One Power, and hundreds of years for those who could channel, peace reigned the land, and war was a term not known. Even the art of fighting with swords, a common place event of the current age, was a game of skill and ability, not a violent means of combat. But it was during this time of peace that the Dark One was found.

Somehow, Perrin did not know the specifics, he supposed there were very few today who did, probably only the Aes Sedai and the Forsaken of course. And probably Rand for that matter, he seemed to know much more than could possibly be expected of him! But during this time somehow a bore was made into the Dark One's prision outside the pattern of the Wheel.

A prison that the creator had made at the instant that the wheel first started turning, and that until that time, had remained unbroken and sealed away from the rest of the world. But the bore opened a hole into his prision allowing the Dark One, or Shi'itan as his name was, to touch the world around him and to spread evil, corruption and darkness over the land. It was because of the Dark One that the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends, the society that the channelers of old belonged to, fell into despair and war descended upon all the land.

Many people, channelers and regular folk alike were enthralled by the lure of the Dark One. A promise of power and a place of authroity in the world he would create once he was free of his prision entirely, and could touch the world with more than just his hand. Aes Sedai, servants of all, changed sides pledging allegiance to the Dark One and forskaing their oaths of loyalty and peace to the forces of light, and joined with the Dark One, becoming the first Dreadlords. Of these channellers who went to the dark side, the strongest 13, some of the strongest channellers who ever existed were given the name of the Forsaken by the people of the world, for forsaking their lives to the Dark One. They had another name for themselves though….The Chosen.

And so over the course of hundreds of years the War of the Shadow was fought between men and women, Aes Sedai and dreadlords. The game of swords was turned into a lethal battle on the field and the concept of war and death became synonymous with life. The Forsaken did not contend to just fight themselves and with their legions of Darkfriends, regular folk who pledged to the Dark One. No, some of them had been great minds of their age and played the forces of light against each other, some attacked on the field of politics, while others attacked on the realm of dreams, using nightmares against people causing death in their sleep!

Others still had been renouned in fields of medicince and Biology, and through their works, creatures of the night were created. Trollocs, combinations of men and animals were to be the warriors of the Dark One, massive armies of these creatures were created and let loose upon the world, brining chaos and destruction with them. The Trollocs themselves spawned another form of evil, the Myrddral, the offspring of Trollocs who were eyeless dark creatures who traveled in shadow and their meer presence would bring fear and cowardice to all who saw them.

Other creatures were created as well, the Darkhounds, twisted dogs and wolves who were made to serve the Dark One, and almost impossible to kill. The Gholam, creatures created of the One Power and immune to its powers. They were assasins in their own right, made just for seeking out and killing those who wielded the One Power and opposed the Dark One. Draghkar, winged creatures of beauty whose crooning song would lull anyone who heard it into a trap, so that they could suck their very soul out of their bodies. And there were other evils of the world, created as a result of the Dark One's presence alone, and not of any man's creation. Perrin had encountered many of these creatures before, Maichin Shin, the Black Wind in the Ways, Madagashar in Shadar Logoth, the creatures of the Blight who lived near Shayol Ghoul, the current location where the Bore to the Dark One's prision was closest to the surface of the pattern, and where he could still influence the world the most.

It was during this time, when the war was at its peak, that Lews Therin Telamon, the Lord of the Morning, the Dragon, the strongest male Aes Sedai of the Age concocted a scheme to seal the Dark One's prison. Unfortunately, many of the strongest female Aes Sedai of the day disagreed with his strategy. Lews wanted to create seals, 7 of them made of an unbreakable material called cuendillar which would act as focuses, keeping the seal on the Dark One's prison intact. The females disagreed with his proposal, instead deciding to create 2 very powerful weapons, great _sa'angreal_, devices for allowing a person to channel more of the power than they ever could on their own.

The women created 2 of these _sa'angreal_, one a giant statue of a man and another of a woman, and intended to use these to form a barrier over the bore, and to seal the Dark One's prison temporarily until a more permanent solution could be found. The statues were so large though that they created access keys, called the Chodean Kal, specialized _ter'angreal_ made to use these giant statues anywhere on the planet. _Ter'angreal_ were like _sa'angreal_ in that they helped facilitate the use of the One Power, but unlike _sa'angreal_, and the less powerful _angreal_, _ter'angreal_ did not increase the amount of power you were able to use but instead performed specific tasks involving the one power.

But, before the women could act, The Dragon acted on his own. Gathering over 100 men Aes Sedai, called the 100 companions, Lews Therin led an assault on Shayol Ghul and implemented his plan to seal the bore. A great battle ensued, with thousands of deaths on both sides, but in the end, the 100 companions were successful! They managed to seal the bore, and within it the Dark One, as well as the 13 Forsaken who had been present at the time of the attack as well. However there was an unforeseen consequence to the attack on the bore and its subsequent sealing.

The Dark One, in a last ditch effort to stop the companion's counterstriked and tainted _saidin_, the male half of the one power. Every single one of the male companions present at Shayol Ghul immediately went insane. For the taint was like a surface of oil, a corruption ever present on _saidin_ and from that day forth every man who touched the One Power would have to go through the taint first, accumulating enough of the effects of the Dark One's counterstroke to eventually drive them mad!

Thus began the breaking of the world when men used their powers unchecked, up heaving mountains, moving oceans, destroying the land and causing panic and mayhem throughout the world. By the time of the end of the breaking the world was a changed place. The remaining male Aes Sedai had started to go mad, and the females made it their charge to hunt down and gentle, to cut off any male who could channel's access to the One Power, and render them powerless.

It took many years but finally all that remained of those able to use the power and who were trained to do so were the female Aes Sedai, and hence the term Aes Sedai became synonymous only with females who could wield_ saidir_. The men who could channel were only those born with the ability, and over the years the number of those men declined steadily till only a few were found every few years, and the Aes Sedai hunted them down and gentled them as soon as they could.

How the world could survive something like that still amazed Perrin. He had traveled for years now in the company of Aes Sedai, and still the were a mystery in many ways to him. He understood why for so many years they had needed to stop men from going insane and breaking the world once again, but all that had changed now that Rand had cleansed the taint from _saidin_. Rand al'Thor. In reality Perrin supposed it was all his fault that Faile had been kidnapped, that he had been forced to fight and kill and travel all over the known world. Rand was the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon, he was the Dragon Reborn, the last hope of salvation for the world. He was a man who could channel, destined to go mad as all men had for the past 3000 years and to fight the Dark One at the last battle, Tarmon Gai'don. He should be feared, but he was one of Perrin's best friends and he needed everyone's help if he was going to win the last battle. Perhaps now with the taint cleansed off of _saidin_ Rand wouldn't go mad, and there would be a few less reasons for people to fear him. Only time would tell.

But, Perrin was happy today. He had rescued Faile, the shaido had all but been destroyed and those that remained were making their way back across the mountains of the Spine of the World and returning to the Waste. This was not a time to worry about Aes Sedai or the end of the world. Faile was currently in her tent with her maids and allies from the shaido camp and had been there for hours already!

"Women" muttered Perrin. "2 months apart and what does she do after a quick hug and kiss, but seal her self away in a tent without letting her own husband in!"

Perrin never did understand what made women act the way they did, and he supposed that he never would, especially not one who could call herself his wife. Making his way across the encampment that his forces has erected Perrin found himself by the edges of the forest. Reaching out Perrin could sense that there were wolves still nearby, many with wounds still bleeding from the fight with the shaido, but all the wolves were slowly making their ways away from Madona and from the men who still resided there.

It was with wolves that Perrin felt comfortable; wolves gave him protection and offered him comfort whenever he needed it, even in his dreams. Most people did not understand the complexity of the wolves, tending to fear what they did not know and understand, but Perrin and a few other knew, and found solace in that knowledge.

Turning away from the forest, Perrin made to head back to camp. Enough was enough. "Whether she likes it or not, she is MY wife and I will not be kept away from her any longer, no matter what she wants!" Making a straight line back to Faile's tent Perrin was suddenly stopped by a feeling in the back of his mind. Images started flashing through his thoughts as wolves, dozens of them started to send Perrin images.

_Come brother_. _Come Young Bull_. _Come and dance with the Shadowbrother_! Shadowbrother! Snarling Perrin grabbed the hammer that hung from his belt. Shadowbrothers were one of the creatures of the Dark One that wolves hated the most, even more than the eyeless or the Twisted Ones, Myrdrral and Trollocs to humans. Entire packs would lie down and die to kill a single shadowbrother, and Perrin would help see it done. _Where?_ He asked the wolves, even as he made his way into the forest. _Where_? The wolves responded with flashes of colors and images, and Perrin knew where the darkhound was. Tonight he was going to dance with the wolves, and hunt!


End file.
